Opinion Editorials

Montrose Daily Press, on renewable quotas from electric co-ops:

Posted:
05/15/2013 11:02:01 AM MDT

As Senate Bill 252 sits on the desk of Gov. John Hickenlooper, awaiting his signature or a veto in the near future, our feelings about the measure remain mixed — and we're guessing it's the same for a lot of you.

The bill, which has passed both houses of the Legislature, would require power wholesalers such as regional supplier Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association to generate or obtain 20 percent of its retail power from renewable energy sources by 2020. Its supporters claim it will enhance the development of local renewable resources, while its opponents argue it will cause electricity prices to increase dramatically.

We suspect they both may be right — and that this may be one of those pieces of legislation that has just as many things going for it as it does against it.

Tri-State officials are vehemently opposed to the bill, characterizing its push for the 20-percent requirement for renewable energy by 2020 as "too much, too fast." State Rep. Don Coram, R-Montrose, says the bill imposes an unrealistic time frame for Tri-State's compliance, arguing that the company would be forced to buy renewable resources from out of state and perhaps force it to close the coal-fired Nucla power plant, which would be a devastating blow to the West End economy. Tri-State officials have said any talk of plant closure is speculation at this point, but Coram said with 2020 just seven years away, the company doesn't have the time to build renewable energy plants and will have no choice but to buy renewables from somewhere else.

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There is no question that the potential closure of the coal-fired plant in Nucla would be extremely unfortunate. We aren't trying to minimize that possibility, but we certainly don't take it as a given that that's what would happen if SB 252 becomes law. Tri-State still would be allowed to generate the vast majority of its power from traditional sources, and it is a leap to conclude at this point that the Nucla plant wouldn't be part of that mix.

As much as various communities across the Western Slope rely on coal — both its extraction from the ground and its use in the energy-generating process — for their economic well-being, it's just as obvious that it remains a very problematic resource from a pollution standpoint. Coal is the simply the dirtiest source of electricity out there, and that makes it increasingly unattractive as time goes by. If Tri-State and other energy wholesalers insist on using more coal-fired stations, then learn after that investment that clean air standards will not let them to continue to operate without enormous additional investment, where does that leave us? Perhaps with the same dramatically rising prices that opponents of SB 252 are forecasting because of the heightened renewable-energy requirement. The fact is, energy prices are going up, regardless of the source of the power.

But will renewables provide a cheaper and reliable alternative? That remains to be seen. The creation of small hydro-power plants on the South Canal and at the Ridgway reservoir are certainly encouraging, as is the increased profile of Montrose's own BrightLeaf Power and the leading role it is taking in solar energy development. These are creative examples of how renewable energy can be created and generate local jobs at the same time. Of those two examples, solar power seems to have the highest ceiling, given our wide-open spaces and abundance of sunshine in the Uncompahgre Valley. But we're a long way from having the infrastructure to meet a significant amount of our energy demand from either of those sources right now.

That takes us back to SB 252's "20 by 20" requirement, which sounds suspiciously more like a political platform than it does a well-engineered, independent target. If 20 percent is good, why not 25 or 30? But by the same token, why not 15? Or how about a mandate that all new power stations and sources must be either powered by relatively clean-burning and abundant natural gas or renewables? There are a variety of avenues worth exploring to achieve the results we want. Good old American ingenuity is what we really need here, not a catchy formula.

So, count us conflicted. We're more than little skeptical about the wisdom of politicians and their ability to make good decisions about where our electric power should come from. Then again, if Tri-State and other power wholesalers in the state had been as creative as the Delta-Montrose Electric Association and other small co-ops have been in terms of seeking out and employing renewable energy resources, it's likely the Legislature would not have felt the need to get involved in this issue.

RE-1 Valley School District has announced its policy for determining eligibility of children who may receive free and reduced price meals served under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program.
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